SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Senior outside hitter Natalie Cignetti (Indiana, Pa./Indiana) totaled 32 kills in seven sets to help lead IUP women's volleyball to a pair of Friday wins at the Notre Dame College Invitational. The Crimson Hawks defeated Concord in four sets and the host Falcons in three sets to improve to 8-3 overall.
 
Cignetti averaged 4.57 kills per set and hit .377 on the day, with just six errors in 69 total attacks. She also moved into the top five all-time at IUP with 962 career kills, passing Morgan Cerveny (940), Karla Raczkowski (948), and Marcy Stutzman (961) along the way.
 
Cignetti is now just 38 kills shy of becoming the fifth player in program history with 1,000 career kills, and 45 away from tying Tracy Pangallo for fourth place with 1,007 kills.
 
Cignetti also had a team-high five aces in Friday's two matches, with 23 digs and four assists, averaging 5.29 points per set.
 
Junior middle blocker Sami Brown (Lewisberry, Pa./Red Land) added 20 kills and six total blocks, and senior middle blocker Gabby Egler (Pittsburgh, Pa./Barack Obama Academy) had 19 kills and three total blocks on the day.
 
Overall offensive effort leads to four-set win over Concord
The Crimson Hawks defeated Concord in four sets, taking convincing 25-15 and 25-11 wins in the opening sets before dropping the third 25-23. IUP wrapped up the match with a 25-16 set four victory.
 
IUP hit .389 against Concord, including an impressive .529 in the second set. Cignetti finished with 15 kills and 10 digs, with senior setter Katie Miller (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) assisting on 49 of the Crimson Hawks' 57 total kills.
 
Cignetti gets 17 kills in three-set win over NDC
Cignetti totaled 20.0 points in the nightcap, finishing with 17 kills and three aces in the straight set victory. She hit .279 on 43 total attacks, with 13 digs.
 
The Crimson Hawks hit .295 for the match, but forced NDC into a .114 performance. In addition to Cignetti's three aces, Egler and graduate Ellie Burns (Clarion, Pa./Clarion) each had two aces, while junior Breanna Damiani (Seven Fields, Pa./Seneca Valley) added one.
 
Up next
IUP wraps up play in Ohio on Saturday against West Virginia Wesleyan at 3:30 p.m.
 
Follow
For up-to-date game information, visit www.IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's volleyball on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPVB.